Price of a Legacy
by Nightmouse
Summary: My first serious story, please be gentle, but honest. Nick considers the vows that have shaped his life


Thanks to a near miracle and a bit of gratitude, I still have the story you are about to read. I will warn all of you now this is not a mousepire story, and the writing style is fairly different. So if you are looking for another cute (or annoying if you happen to hate them) quickly written romp, please wait for the next mousepire installment. :)

This story is entitled "Price of a Legasy" and had Joe Raygor not received a copy of it before died...it would be gone along with most of my serious stories.

And so it is with both joy and sorrow I present the only survivor of operation reinstall and Vampiremouse's first serious story...

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I do not own Forever Knight (sony-tristar, paragon do). I did however write this story and would appreciate credit and reasonable acknowledgement. Oh and the mouse likes cheese :)

Price of a Legacy

By

Vampire Mouse

It was desolate and cold. Despite the weather, Detective Knight kept the top down, on his metallic blue-green '62 Caddy. He was in no mood for enclosure, or even driving, but the middle of a busy highway, even at 3 in the morning, was just simply no place to leave his car. Not if he ever wished to see the car again in one piece, or avoid a slew of annoying questions down at the precinct.

What he wanted to do was fly, race through the ice night air with wild abandon until the cacophany of emotions no longer burned in his borrowed blood. A stoplight, yellow, damn it, red. As if in sympathy the entire world took on an amber tinge that he rapidly suppresed.

The night was silent to any mortal ears, contain ing only normal sounds; a distant honking horn, the woosh of wind, music from a car stereo, a barking dog. He continued driving, on automatic pilot, destination chosen only by vhance or his subconcious.

A familiar apartment building, hers. A solitary cat, staring out the window as if aware of his presence. Anticipating, knowing...did the cat want him there, more or less, then a certain master who was good enough at figuring things, to inspire paranoia in even the most stable and balenced of personalities.

Nick was unfortunately, not the most balenced of personalities. How much of that was his own inner nature, and how much was impossed, from outside...was anyone's guess

He hated this, love this...he didn't know what to do.

Damn it he did love her, but because of a stupid ancient pact between the two vampires neither of them were allowed to know true love...ever again. Stupid bargain, and the impetousness of love burned youth...he laughed at himself "never love again after your "one true love" died tragically in your arms, yeah right...,. After centuries, his love for Gwendolyn remained as a shining memory but nothing more...it was signifigant only in its "story book tragedy" ending.

"Ah...Fleur," he breathed, was I foolish to deny you immortality. You were too young to choose...too innocent. Can you understand, my beloved sister, who only wanted to join your brother and your first love in the eternal company of the night. I was a fool, leaving no heir when I still could have...I swear I didn't know what it really meant. I could have been our line's eternal protector if only their was an heir. In hidesight why did I deny him, when all I should have done is bargained for you to concieve an heir before joining us in the darkness. LaCroix could have take you a mere year or two later...after Andre was born. That was all our family needed..a legacy. Certainly anything was better, then never seeing yo u again, AND entering this devil's pact.

Alyssa, poor betrayed, Alyssa. Nick's wife in the eyes of G-d and man. She should have been payment for this assinine pact. He stood before a priest, under a holy arch, partook of every marriage ritual.

Nick knew why Alyssa wasn't payment..and it was his own fault. Bringing others into this bizarre, inhuman existance was abhorent to him, he had tried to bring Alyssa across. Why? Among their wedding gifts a single white rose, aurically drenched in eau de La Croix. His master calling in his vow...no true love allowed. What he was 'supposed' to do was leave her...to let old age claim her to mortal death as age and a final illness had finally claimed Fleur. Nick panicked, he was in love for the first time since gwendolyn...deeply infatuated with the wonder of being a true knight to his beautiful, innocent, perfect little lady. An innocent such as Fleur...an innocent, with a mind, open enough to love the stars.

Why couldn't he have just waited for La Croix to come claiming the pact, surrrendered poor Alyssa to her foreordained death at La Croix's fangs... or left her to time as his master required. Why couldn't he have tried to end it then and there. Why not accept the inevitable and realize that true love would come a third time to his eternal life. He panicked, brought Alyssa across, or tried, and failed miserably...and so the pact was unfurfilled. Beloved blood directly on Nick's fangs, and Lacroix could rightly expect retribution.

And so his second stupid vow haunted Nicholas de Brabant down the centuries.

fin


End file.
